


A Family of Heroes

by PrayForRain



Series: Something More than Teammates [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen, Post-Movie(s), Pre-Slash, Some violence (not graphic), Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-07
Updated: 2012-06-07
Packaged: 2017-11-07 05:01:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/427155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrayForRain/pseuds/PrayForRain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iron Man and Captain America end up finding trouble while the rest of the Avengers are off on various missions and the like. Just when things seem pretty bleak, the rest of the team shows up to prove that they aren't just heroes--they're a family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Family of Heroes

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: So, as I was writing this, I learned that writing action sequences are really not my forte. Still, it was a lot of fun, and while it may not be my best work, I still hope that you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it!

Episode Two: A Family of Heroes

Trouble always seemed to find you when you were living with several heroes, all with sordid pasts and grudge matches that would rival that of David & Goliath . Which, ironically enough, were the names of the enemies that Steve and Tony were faced with at that particular moment. 

It was pretty typical of what you’d expect, living in a world like this. David Ombudsman was a scrawny scientist trying to get his revenge on the world for making fun of him all his life, and Goliath was a creation of a his, a giant of a man that Tony had explained was some kind of creature called a golem, although it was obvious that he wasn’t made of clay. Basically, they were facing a modern-day Frankenstein’s monster. A living, breathing force of nature the size of a small elephant.

A large hand slammed into the ground next to him, the weapon of choice for Goliath the Golem. The force of his hand alone managed to split the street, and if Steve took a direct hit, he ran the risk of breaking every bone in his body, even with the protection of his suit. Steve just managed to keep his ground as the debris kicked up around him, shards of sharp cement slicing the small bit of exposed skin on his face. The rest he managed to keep at bay with his shield.

“Getting slow there, Capsicle,” came the slightly altered voice of Iron Man from above as he shot several energy blasts in the giant’s direction, and Steve had just enough time to shoot a glare in his direction before David saw the glint of red and gold and aimed a fireball in his direction. The bastard scientist had a catapult, and neither of them could get close without risking a direct hit from the golem. “Might want to give a second thought to that Pilates I told you about! Could do wonders for your joints—I bet you’d feel 50 years younger! At least!”

This particular threat had taken them somewhat by surprise. Despite the fact that everyone had steadily been trickling into the new Avengers Tower, they all still had commitments in other places. Bruce and Thor were in the Netherlands, having to do damage control with the government there. Thor’s exploits had gotten more attention than S.H.I.E.L.D. had preferred, and people were clamoring for answers. After all, it wasn’t every day that you realized that the gods your ancestors worshipped were really aliens with really excellent hair and spectacular muscular compositions, one of whom had recently returned to earth to fight off super villains from all over.

Natasha and Clint, too, were on a mission, but Fury had forbidden them from explaining anything. So, at the moment, it was just Steve and Tony. Against David and Goliath .

They were obviously not the legends themselves, but apparently, years of being shunned—which Steve didn’t condone in any way, and if anything, he felt almost sorry for the enemies he was fighting right now…almost—would turn you against the world in a heartbeat. David had refined his abilities, and his golem was delivering an ice-cold plate of vengeance.

Amazing, how more often than not, the world created its own villains. But innocent New Yorkers were paying the price, and as heroes, Steve and Tony obviously couldn’t take that lying down.

The entire block had been cordoned off, police cars boxing them in, though the police themselves were cowering behind them as per his orders. The fight wasn’t going as well as it would be hoped.

Steve prepared to throw his shield. His target was David , a risky maneuver, but him being the smaller target, the shield would be much more effective against him, and Iron Man was keeping the other busy, flying around his head and doing what he did best—being annoying.

That was, until Goliath finally managed to swat him and Tony was sent flying through the air. Unable to completely control the movement through the air, Tony instead had to try and at least control the fall. He managed a haphazard flip and landed on his knee in kneeling position, a small crater forming around him.

“What was that about being slow, Tony?” Steve called out, teasing to try and keep the concern out of his voice.

“I guess I was just asking for that,” Tony ground out, standing and moving to attack once more, keeping the giant busy. “But enough of this talk. Why don’t we finish this already? I have an important date with Pepper tonight.”

“Sounds good to me!” Steve said, and finally let his shield fly toward its intended target.

It looked like it was going to work out well. David’s look of horror as he saw the shield flying at him was such that Steve was sure he’d gotten him—but of course, it never could be that easy, and a moment later it became clear that the look for horror had simply been a mockery to lead Steve to believe his attack had a chance of succeeding.

A shield made of energy flew up around him and as his shield slammed into it, it was violently flung back at him with enough force as to cause massive damage. He just barely managed to catch hold of the shield before it hit him, and he thanked his lucky stars that he’d practiced catching this shield more than he’d ever practiced anything in his life. Still, David was smug and started laughing, a maniacal sound that reminded Steve of hyenas he’d seen at the zoo once, long ago.

“Tony, watch out! They have some kind of shield—“

He didn’t get to finish the words before one of Tony’s repulsion beam hit the shield around Goliath and was sent back at him. And unfortunately for him, the attack wasn’t one that could be stopped by simply catching it. He took the full brunt force of his own weapon, and slammed into the wall of a white building that Steve was pretty sure had once been a library, before this unfortunate incident.

Goliath seemed quite pleased with himself, a twisted grin contorting his ugly features into something altogether horrifying as he watched Tony’s limp form hit the ground and bounce once before settling onto the pavement, unmoving.

Tony had barely hit the ground before Steve was running, not caring how reckless he was being or that he probably couldn’t do anything to stop Goliath no matter how close he got. He just had to do what he could to help.

“Do it! Crush the Iron Fly, Goliath! Crush him!” David commanded gleefully as he readied another round of flaming boulders, and Steve ran faster, his heart pumping. He couldn’t let this monster crush Tony, and it wasn’t just because he cared. It was just an undignified and ridiculous way to go, and he refused to let his friend go that way. Besides, Tony still owed him some money from a bet he’d lost concerning the matter of whether or not Bruce was a virgin. 

Several flaming boulders landed behind him as he ran, just barely missing him each time. He didn’t have time to think about that at the moment. All he knew was that Tony was down, and he had to buy him some time to recover at the very least. Goliath’s massive foot was about to come down, but there. He’d spotted it: A flicker of movement from Tony. Relief flooded through him. That meant that he wasn’t entirely unconscious.

“Tony, move!” he shouted, and then leapt at the back of the giant. Tony just barely managed to roll over as the foot came down and Goliath found himself very much distracted by Captain America clinging to his neck from behind. Apparently, the energy shield didn’t work on hand-to-hand contact, something which Steve was thankful for. At least, he was at first, right up until the moment the giant turned and slammed his back into the wall of the library in an attempt to dislodge his assailant. 

The air rushed out of Steve’s lungs, agony exploding through his back and into his chest. He made a rather undignified groaning sound, but didn’t let go. Giant or not, air was essential, and Steve’s clutch on his neck was slowly doing its work, blocking his airway and weakening the giant.

“Very nice move,” Tony ground out, slowly pulling himself up to his feet. A rain of pebbles came loose from his suit, making light plinking sounds as they all hit the pavement and he brushed himself off, as if he’d received nothing more than dirty clothes for his trouble. “Have you been watching my movie collection by any chance? Because I’m pretty certain that Westley used that move on the giant Fezzik in The Princess Bride. Although, granted, I think he had a little more success, but that could just be—“

“Tony!” Steve ground out as Goliath slammed him into the wall a second time. He was pretty sure he’d felt one of his ribs buckle at the impact, but there was no doubt about it: the giant was almost ready to topple. 

“Right, sorry,” Tony said, and then aimed his repulsor cannon again. Steve was about to cry out for him to stop, wondering if he had lost his mind in the impact or if he was always just that stupid, but instead of shooting at the giant and thus getting himself killed, he shot at what appeared to be a security camera affixed to the top of the building. A strange blue explosion of light went up around it, and Tony grinned. 

“If we get rid of these,” he explained, though Steve had to admit he was a bit preoccupied and thus not paying particular attention, “We can eliminate the energy shields!”

“Then.” Slam. “By all means.” Slam. “Do it.” Slam. “Quickly.” The last word was little more than a groan as Steve felt the weight of the giant slam into him over and over. While Goliath was weakening, so was Steve, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold on like this. He had to admit, though, that he was thankful for the fact that David had ceased trying to blow him up with his boulders, afraid he’d end up accidentally destroying his only friend and ally if he continued. 

Tony, however, was a different matter, and while the little scientist could do nothing to touch Steve at the moment, he was happy to try and goad the great Tony Stark and threaten him with his weapons. He knew that Iron Man couldn’t do anything to him—if he tried to get close enough for a hand-to-hand attack as Steve had done with Goliath, he would be shot out of the sky before he get there. So instead, Tony was focusing on his mission: get rid of the shields.

As he darted around the block, trying to spot and destroy as many of the energy shield generators as he could, the hopelessness of the situation started to sink in for both heroes. There were too many, and Steve couldn’t hold onto Goliath forever. Before they knew it, they’d be overcome and it would all be over. 

Steve’s vision began darkening at the corners. He had very little time now. It was all over. All this, for nothing. At the same time, a fireball flew through the air and Tony knew he wasn’t going to avoid it. There was no way around it. His momentum was too much, its trajectory too perfect for him to dodge entirely. The best he could hope for was to turn himself so as to avoid a fatal hit.

Preparing for agony that even his suit couldn’t entirely protect him from, Tony took a deep breath…only to expel it all out in a huge whoop of joy.

A lightning bolt shot through down from the sky, which had previously been empty of all clouds, and hit the camera-like-device that Tony had been aiming for, while a massive green shape found its way in between him and the fireball. It caught it deftly in two huge arms and Tony watched as the Hulk roared violently and tossed the rock, now ripped in two, to either side of him.

“Help the Captain!” Tony yelled out to the Hulk. “Captain is in trouble!”

“Puny Captain!” came the enthusiastic reply, and the Hulk made his way over to his opponent. “Hulk help!”

Steve didn’t have the strength to argue as the Hulk wrapped a large hand around him and then pulled him off of the weakened Goliath, which had only just staggered a bit. The Hulk then tossed him aside in what was meant to be a gentle way. Thankfully, a pair of strong arms caught him before he hit the ground and he was suddenly in the air, being pulled away from the battle for a moment.

Thor set him down on a flat roof of an old apartment building, and Steve cradled his ribs and caught his breath for a minute. 

“How fair thee, good Captain?”

Steve managed a weak smile. “Honestly? I’ve been better. You guys should really work on your timing…”

“I apologize,” Thor said, bowing his head a bit, though he offered a hand to help Steve up, “I regret that we were unable to come to your aid sooner. We did not know that you could find such trouble in a small matter of a few days.”

“Well, we sure weren’t looking for it either,” Steve winced, and then used Thor’s hand to pull himself to his feet. “But we should get back there. Tony could probably use help destroying those generators…”

“I see you wasted no time in finding fun without us,” came a sudden voice from behind, and Steve turned to find Clint grinning at him, his arms folded. 

Natasha was next to him, and as he watched she brushed a strand of dark red hair behind her ear. “What he means is,” she said, sending a pointed glare at her partner, “What do you need us to do?”

Steve pointed at one of the camera-looking-devices. “See those things? Destroy them. They’re generating shields that make it impossible to attack our foes, except close-range. It’s getting out of hand.”

“Roger that, Captain,” Hawkeye said with a salute, then vanished as he hopped over to another roof. Natasha rolled her eyes, and with a grin, jumped off the building as well, hitting the ground and aiming for one of the devices closer to the ground.

With all of them there, it didn’t take long to wrap things up. They fought like a well-oiled machine, and with the systematic destruction of every shield generator, David was defenseless in minutes. Goliath was dispatched by the Hulk, and David surrendered soon after, holding his hands up and begging them not to kill him. They got him in handcuffs and were about to send him on his way with some cops, but a S.H.I.E.L.D helicopter arrived on the scene and Nick Fury himself climbed out of it, Agent Phil Coulson next to him with a pleasant expression as always, although it seemed like something was bothering him.

He had healed up quite nicely from his near-death experience at the hands of Loki. When the team had found out he wasn't dead, they'd been furious about Fury lying to them, but Coulson told them that it had been his idea. In the end, they'd just been happy that he was okay. Though not all of them, especially Tony, would admit it, they had all grown rather fond of the agent.

“What’s the matter, sir?” Steve asked. He was leaning a bit on Tony, a stabbing pain shooting through him with every breath letting him know that he definitely had at least one cracked or broken rib—many others were bruised—and it was obvious that he wanted this to be over quickly so he could go home and enjoy some much needed rest. A warm compress wouldn’t be remiss, either. He’d rather like that. 

“There was some tech that we weren’t expecting,” Fury explained, his one good eye boring into him. Steve still didn’t trust the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. as far as he could throw him, and while he was sure he could throw him pretty far, it still wasn’t far enough. “Our interest is primarily finding out what it did, and how they got their hands on it. We’ll be taking Dr. Ombudsman in for questioning.”

“You mean interrogation and torture,” Tony sneered, reminding Steve that he, too, distrusted the director.

“You’ll find, Mr. Stark,” Fury began, his voice cold and hard as he snapped his fingers and was given some papers. “That we have filled out all appropriate paperwork to take him into custody. What we do with him, then, is really none of your business.”

The director proffered the papers, and Tony glanced at them briefly, making no move to take them. “I don’t like being handed thi—“

Fury shoved the papers at him, giving him no choice but to accept them, though his eyes were dark and angry and promised him lots of pain if he ever got his hands on him. The director seemed unimpressed. “We would also appreciate your cooperation in helping us find out the effects of this tech. What you witnessed, how it worked, etc. Agent Coulson will debrief you, so if you’ll follow him…” Fury motioned towards Agent Coulson, who waved a small greeting at them.

“Actually, Director, he can follow us. If you haven’t noticed, the Captain here is in a bad way, and the rest of the team are all exhausted from the various missions that you sent them on. So if you want cooperation, you’ll have to allow us to continue this at our headquarters.” 

Despite Tony’s words, the rest of the team were pretty much fine. They were all bustling about trying to clean up the mess and help the S.H.I.E.L.D. team collect the pieces of the technology that they’d busted, all except Bruce, who had just turned back into himself and was recuperating, covered in a blanket and leaning up against the building that Steve had had a rather up-close and personal encounter with earlier. In all honesty, he was just tired of acting like S.H.I.E.L.D.’s trained puppies. At some point, they needed to learn how to compromise because they needed the Avengers way more than the Avengers needed them.

“Now look here, Stark,” Nick Fury began, but Coulson quickly cut in.

“It’s alright, sir. I really don’t mind.”

“Yeah, see, Agent Coulson doesn’t mind. So, excuse us, Director.” Tony tightened his hold on Steve, bringing him back to the present. He’d been sort of dozing during the exchange between Tony and Fury, something he was not proud of. He was a tough person, but once the adrenaline stopped pumping, his body tended to go into healing mode and his mind would drift.

They began walking towards Tony’s limo, which Happy had brought around once the fighting had abated. Steve managed to gesture at the team to follow despite how the movement made his chest ache more. 

“Would you like for me to call for a doctor, sir?” Agent Coulson asked, noticing the pinched look on Steve’s face.

“No, I’ll be fine,” Steve responded quickly as Tony helped him into the car. He would be flying back along with Thor, but the non-flying members of the team would all be riding. “This’ll be better in a matter of days. No worries.”

Agent Coulson shook his head. “Days? A normal person would be looking at upwards of six weeks to fully recover from an injury like that. Cracked, maybe broken, ribs, I take it?”

Steve nodded. “Cracked, I think.”

Coulson whistled. “That Super Soldier Serum was something else, if your body can take care of that in a few days.”

“Dr. Erskine was the most brilliant person I knew.” Silence descended for a moment, Steve seeming to get lost in his memories. Phil could only guess what he was remembering about the long-dead scientist that many had attempted to copy over the years with very little success, including their very own Bruce Banner. Deciding to let Steve reminisce in quiet, Phil settled into his seat and waited for the rest of their group to join them.

They rode back in practical silence, all of them tired or otherwise mentally occupied. They finally arrived a few minutes later, and were treated to a surprise: dinner had been prepared.

“Thor didn’t know how to cook anything but Pop-Tarts. Really, you’d think they’d teach you how to make more than that in Asgard, but apparently princes don’t cook for themselves? Who knew,” Tony explained as they all filed into the living room from the parking garage downstairs. Delicious fruity smells were wafting from the kitchen along with the smell of eggs and cheese and maybe peppers, Steve couldn’t tell, but he couldn’t stop the smile that made its way to his face. “I, on the other hand, can make a pretty rad omelet.”

“You could have hired someone,” Steve said, shaking his head. “You’ve got what, a billion dollars?”

“More,” came a voice from the dining room, which was connected to the living quarters through a simple archway behind the bar. Steve turned to find Pepper Potts standing there, smiling. She looked positively exhausted, and was already in a nightgown without any makeup on her face, but Steve thought she was still very pretty. “But he insisted that he wanted to make everyone a meal. Said something about it being the first night everyone was here. I was supposed to meet him earlier and help him prepare something better, but you were all caught up in fighting.”

So that was the important date he had with Pepper. Steve had to admit he was surprised about that. How had Tony even known that they would all be here? He shot Tony a look, but he was pointedly avoiding everyone’s gazes, taking a long drink from the bar as he often did. 

“So let me get this straight,” Natasha said, “You shot home to cook us a meal, Stark? You?”

“I don’t believe it,” Clint said, grinning, “Tony Stark does have a heart.”

Pepper smiled. “I was surprised to find out, too.”

“I’m not,” Steve said, and everyone looked at him, including Tony. He simply shrugged painfully. “I’m not surprised,” he repeated, “At least, not about Tony having a heart. The dinner is a bit of a shocker. But come on, you guys. Tony’s got one of the biggest hearts of all of us, even if he'd rather hide it.”

“To Tony,” Bruce said, handing everyone glasses of champagne that he had poured for them. They all took the drinks, shaking their heads in wonder. Once everyone had been seen to, he held up his own. “The man with a Hulk of a heart, though it may be a surprise to some.”

Everyone laughed and clinked glasses, then took a sip. Almost the second they had finished the sip, however, Tony was darting around the room taking the glasses from all of them and setting them all back on the bar. “Alright, enough of that. I don’t want my reputation to be ruined. Tomorrow, I go back to being the heartless asshole you know and love. But tonight, we eat dinner. Although, for gods’ sake, clean up first, and put on some decent clothes. You’re all filthy—and don’t forget! The dress-code is pajamas. Bring your best footies. And Steve?”

Steve had only just moved to get to his room, but at the sound of the other’s voice, turned to give a questioning look to Tony. “There’s a warm-compress and bandages in your room. Do you need someone to come down and help wrap you up, or are you good?”

“I’m fine, Tony, thanks,” Steve said, grinning and shaking his head. “I’ve wrapped a good many injuries like this in my time, so I should be just fine on my own.”

“Alright, you got five minutes. Get out of here, the lot of you.”

Slowly, they all filed out, heading to their rooms to change or get first aid, depending on what sort of state they were in. Before long, it was just Tony, Pepper and Phil in the living room, with Thor still tinkering around in the kitchen.

“Uh, should we get the debriefing finished while the others are changing, Mr. Stark? I wouldn’t want to hold you all up from your meal,” Phil said, and Tony glanced at him with an unreadable expression.

Thor came out of the room and set down several plates of Pop-Tarts and omelets. He was wearing a pink frilly apron, and Phil nearly did a spit-take. He had never imagined that he would see the god of thunder dressed like a house-wife from the sixties, but apparently, he didn’t think it odd at all. He simply removed his oven mitts and grinned at the agent.

“Son of Coul!” he boomed, moving over to embrace him, a gesture which Phil returned awkwardly. “Welcome and well-met! I prepared a plate for you when Tony let me know that you would be joining us. I was not sure which flavor of the popped tarts which you would prefer, so I prepared strawberry. I hope that is well? ‘Twas my favorite upon arriving on Midgard.”

“I’m very grateful, but isn’t this a moment for you all? I feel as if I’m intruding…”

“Nonsense!” Clint said, stepping into the room and wrapping an arm around Phil to guide him towards one of the many chairs at the large dining table, taking the seat to one side of the agent. 

He was wearing pajamas with ducks on them, a pair which Phil recognized rather quickly from his days as Clint’s handler. He had spent every waking, and sometimes sleeping, moment alongside the archer. There was very little between them that was a surprise anymore. “You’re just as much a part of this family as any of us.”

“He’s right, you know,” Pepper said, patting his back before taking the seat on his other side. The others were starting to arrive as well, filling up the table while Thor and Tony continued bringing in plates and glasses and silverware. “You know, they would never have worked together if it hadn’t been for you.”

“Oh, nonsense, Miss. Potts,” Phil said, glancing down at his strawberry Pop-Tart and slightly burnt omelet. “All I did was nearly die.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Not that part, Phil. Your faith in them—your undying support and belief that they would manage to work out their differences for the good of the world. You believed in them when nobody, including themselves, did, and they’re all very grateful.”

Finally, Steve returned, a warm compress taped to his shirtless torso and a pair of dark blue pajama pants sitting snuggly on his hips. The bruises from his injury were vaguely visible around the compress, a mottled mess of red and black and purple. Everyone went sort of quiet, and Steve felt suddenly self-conscious, realizing he was the only one who wasn’t wearing a shirt.

“What?” he asked, “Tony said pajamas…Should I go and put on a shirt?”

Hurried responses from no to hell no—that last one was Natasha, of course—echoed throughout the room, so he shook his head and made his way over to the table, sitting directly across from Tony.

Once he was settled down, quiet settled once more, and everyone looked at Tony. He looked at all of them in return, one after the other, taking them in with an expression that Steve was beginning to refer to as his ‘feeling’ face in his mind, the face he wore when he was dealing with emotions and feelings that he didn’t really know how to express.

Eventually, he coughed and held up his drink. “To family,” he said with a small smile, “Both natural and unnatural. From science experiments and gods, to stuffy agents, to incredibly good-looking suit-wearing philanthropists, and every amazing individual in between: Welcome home.”

This was family, Steve thought, taking a cautious bite of the omelet Tony had prepared for him. He hadn’t had much of one growing up, and maybe, to many, this wouldn’t seem like much of a family either. But they were what he had, and he cared for each and every one of them. His eyes roamed over the faces of the other Avengers before finally landing on Tony, who was already staring at him, his dark eyes alight with something like understanding. 

He smiled and looked down. Yeah, this was his family, as strange and unlikely as they may seem. And he was incredibly lucky to know all of them. He would face a dozen Goliaths or more if it meant keeping things just like this.


End file.
